Crime
Labour’s backwards steps on free speech
Free speech advocates like me need to stop talking about the meagre gains we made under the last government because…
Calm down about the Notting Hill Carnival
There was recently a mass public party at which all sorts of offences were committed. As innocent attendees cut loose…
Is the CCRC fit to decide on Lucy Letby’s appeal?
Whatever happened to the likes of the BBC’s Rough Justice and Channel 4’s Trial and Error? Why did human rights…
Portrait of the week: King’s Speech, Trump shot and Rouen cathedral in flames
Home The government funnelled three dozen bills into the King’s Speech, highlighting one to make a specific offence of spiking…
A David and Goliath battle involving a billion-dollar pornography website
Laila Mickelwait appears to wage a one-woman crusade to shut down a major distributor of rape and child abuse videos
Can Labour solve our prisons crisis?
There is no doubt that the new government (and in particular the prisons minister, James Timpson) is faced with a…
How body cams create a culture of fear
Thanks to an underage relative who’d stolen my driving licence, I recently found myself ID-less at the local Co-op. I…
Would you dare to wear a Rolex?
‘London has become a jungle, right? Anyone with anything nice risks having it taken.’ Bobby, the manager of one of…
Were the Greeks right about justice?
The Sentencing Council, consisting of various legal authorities, has told judges and magistrates to consider, when sentencing the young, their…
The perils of Prague: Parasol Against the Axe, by Helen Oyeyemi, reviewed
Three women with a criminal past meet for a weekend hen party – but any hopes of enjoying themselves are soon dashed
Tea and treachery: Sheep’s Clothing, by Celia Dale, reviewed
Posing as social services employees, two female ex-cons talk their way into the homes of elderly widows in order to drug them and steal their valuables
It shouldn’t be a crime to sniff a goshawk
I notice that the naturalist Chris Packham has been reported to the police for the ‘crime’ of sniffing a goshawk.…
Why weren’t police forces investigating every theft?
Police must investigate every theft. This is the message from the Home Secretary as the government heralds an agreement from…
Daniel Penny and the problem with have-a-go heroes
I have always liked the phrase ‘have-a-go hero’. It sums up a certain type of person who can emerge from…
High life
New York I am seriously thinking of visiting a shrink (just kidding) as I now have definite proof that I…
Arms’ reach
Will guns from Ukraine end up on the streets of Britain?
Who’s pursuing a vendetta?
Lord help me I love a hatchet job, and you’ll have to too if you want to make it through…
We need to talk about tasers
Donald Burgess is the latest Briton to die after being hit by a police taser. He won’t be the last,…
The price of courage
Lawrence Osborne’s novels are easy to admire. They tend to deal with characters trapped in morally questionable situations and their…
A death-haunted city
Naples, the tatterdemalion capital of the Italian south, is said to be awash with heroin. Chinese-run morphine refineries on its…
High life
A couple more weeks in the Bagel and then on to dear old London. I’ve had a very good time…
The dishonesty of our age
It isn’t hard to notice that some crimes are more important than others. Or at least more politically advantageous. It…
High life
I celebrate two Easters every year, the Catholic one and the Orthodox one, which means I get very drunk on…
